Monday, 28 February 2011

After reading a www.ghanaweb.com (26/2/2011) story by a Seth Krampah, entitled: "B&FT sets agenda for rural economic development" the gentleman who brought this to my attention, was so incensed that he apparently had to pause for a moment, and count up to ten, to calm himself down - as any sensible anger management book would suggest. He then asked himself the rhetorical question: "When, O, when, will Ghana's educated urban elite, ever stop dreaming up sundry schemes, designed to rip Mother Ghana off, one smart way or the other?"

I agreed with him that if the story was a true reflection of the outcome of the meeting, then it would really be interesting to know what the reaction of right-wing Danish politicians would be, for example, when they discover that their taxpayers' money, rather than being used to directly fund the growth of micro-enterprises and SME's in Ghana, has consistently been hijacked by clever- types-in-high-places, using consultancies as rip-off vehicles, to enable them play the system: and siphon off what is Danish foreign aid - sent by donors who think that somehow, they are encouraging private enterprise, as a way of alleviating poverty in Africa.

Now try making sense of this quotation from Mr Krampah's story, dear reader: "The Business & Financial Times and a coalition of media partners across the country at an advocacy workshop in Accra have adopted a policy to establish a Development Organ for the media. This is to establish a basis for an advocacy action aimed at developing a Home-Grown Mass-Scale planning model for a Sustainable Solution to Rural Economic Development in the country to be implemented by the media under the development organ."

What do the state-owned media, and the Information Services Department(ISD), marginalised by the geniuses at the information ministry for years, all exist for, I ask, for starters? Just who are the politically well-connected equivalent of gangsters, who came up with this pure nonsense on bamboo stilts - and what exactly does all that waffle mean?

Why should poor rural people, desperate to escape poverty, have to depend on the paid-for "advocacy" of a fickle Ghanaian media, unable to recruit intellectuals and full of clueless semi-literate mercenary types (some even with university degrees, incredibly!), who have seldom shown any interest in their survival, other than to exploit rural Ghana for sensational stories about farmers shooting their love rivals, farmers committing incest, and the like, I ask?

Why should anyone ask rural folk to rely on the genius of media houses, using esoteric la-la land advocacy methods, to make rural Ghana's cash-starved economy prosperous - when so many media houses themselves face bankruptcy because those who manage those corporate equivalent of begging-bowls, lack the nous and imagination to grow those poorly-managed businesses and make them profitable entities?

Would it not be more realistic to ask the media to simply point it out to those who oversee funds like the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC), that if they want to help alleviate rural poverty, and offer rural dwellers practical help, they can do so by directly providing cash-strapped grass-roots organisations like the Rural Enterprises Project (REP), with funds, which will make it possible for rural dwellers to have easy access to their economically empowering alternative income generation training courses?

Would Danish taxpayers not rather that that happened with the money they give to DANIDA to support private enterprise in Ghana, than it being dished out to clueless journalists? How many of those lazy and unprofessional journalists, who have not shown any creativity in growing their own sinking establishments, even know what entities like the REP, for example, do for rural people, to begin with - let alone have ideas about "home-grown development models" for transforming rural Ghana? The story goes on to say:

"The initiative dubbed: Media Corporate Response Initiative (M-CRI) would serve as the development vehicle for the media to host home-grown development models for implementation as the Media corporate response initiative. The project is under the auspices of DANIDA-EU sponsored Business Sector Advocacy Challenge Fund".

How can a disparate media, all of its constituent establishments' with set political agendas of their own, and in bed with their favourite political parties, have an effective collective "development organ", I ask - and how can people who presumably have different ideas about how society ought to be organised to create sustainable wealth, buy into a collective " Media Corporate Response Initiative (M-CRI)"? Is this egregious example of wanton waste of foreign aid that is meant to grow private sector micro-enterprises and SME's not a pipe-dream and an expensive exercise in futility?

If they were genuine in their aim, would those too-clever-by-half media folk not rather volunteer their services freely, as compassionate professionals who want to give back to society, in response to a perceived need in rural Ghana - instead of jumping on the lets-get-some-free-grant-cash-whiles-it-lasts bandwagon?

According to their critics, funds set up by the well-intentioned, such as the BUSAC, invariably end up dishing out cash to politically well-connected would-be fraudsters, instead of to productive organisations like the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), the REP, the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).

This is one of the most outrageous examples of using a lofty idea to obtain "chop-chop" that I have ever come across, thus far, since the honest, humble and selfless President Mills, came into office in January 2009. Why don't the participating media houses and B&FT do this as their respective media organisation's corporate social responsibility (CSR) project?

Does genuine CSR not provide socially-responsible corporate entities the opportunity to give back to the society from which they make their profits, and from their own generated surpluses - not other people's hard-earned money dished out to them, from a well-endowed grant-dispensing Father Christmas fund?

If Ghanaian media houses fail to generate surpluses because they are badly managed basket cases, why should they be subsidised by hapless Danish and EU taxpayers' to engage in a "Media Corporate Response Initiative (M-CRI)" at rural Ghana's expense?

Is this outrageous wheeze, not simply a case of the outcome of a project proposal designed by a self-interested consultant, partnered by an equally self-interested media house for their mutual benefit? And in a society in which integrity has become such a scarce personal attribute, will it not end up as a typical Ghanaian story of favouritism and nepotism, in which funds are dished out to certain selected media houses (and selected journalists, one presumes), most of whom have seldom shown any interest in rural Ghana's economy, and don't give a toss about rural poverty, either, if truth be told?

What has been the track record of the Business and Financial Times, and its media partners in advocating for rural development, all these years that rural people have struggled without their support?

And why does the Business and Financial Times and its so-called media partners not volunteer their advocacy for free in the columns and pages of their respective newspapers, and on the airwaves of their radio stations and television stations, I ask?

Why is this insidious " take-take-take-and-never-once--give-or-sacrifice-for-others" ethos so prevalent in Ghanaian society, today, I ask? From the foot soldiers of political parties to greedy and selfish bosses of state-owned entities, who grab perk after perk and allowance after allowance (even when the entities they run make losses!), it seems that everyone in this nation of ours, is on the make and on the take. Why?

Do those proposing this outrage, not have any conscience, at all? It is time DANIDA stopped providing business advocacy money - and used the money allocated to support business advocacy in Ghana, to set up a fund, which will enable organisations like the Rural Enterprises Project (REP) to continue offering free training to rural people, and to provide them with seed money to start their own micro-enterprises, such as snail-farming; mushroom farming; bee keeping; fish farming, etc. etc. That, and using community-based eco-tourism as a tool for the conservation of what is left of our fast-dwindling natural heritage, at a time of global climate-change, are the surest ways of creating sustainable wealth in rural Ghana. Period.

Is it not typical of our times that whiles millions of poor rural youth in Ghana daily seek ways of accessing training courses of the Rural Enterprises Project (REP), the clever-folk-in-high-places have come up with yet another wheeze to grab foreign assistance meant to create a climate in which micro-enterprises and SME's can thrive? Danish and EU taxpayers must find out precisely where their taxes end up in Ghana as aid, and demand that their taxes go directly to alleviate poverty in rural Ghana - not to enrich Ghana's educated urban elite. Hmm, Ghana - enti yewiewe paa, eniea? Asem ebeba debi ankasa!

Sunday, 27 February 2011

As ordinary Libyans struggle to gain their freedom from Gaddafi's tyrannical regime, and their fellow Arabs elsewhere, also use people-power to shake off repressive leaders, one wonders what the future holds for that longed-for Arab-Israeli peace, which people of goodwill worldwide so wish would happen soon.

Israelis and Arabs, are both a noble people, with ancient civilisations. And they both have long and proud histories - and are blessed with societies underpinned by two of the world's most significant religions.

It is such a pity that for so long, there has been such hostility between two such dynamic peoples who have so much to gain, if they could coexist peacefully, and collaborate for their mutual benefit.

One's prayer, is that one of the positive outcomes of the Arab world's people-power revolutions, will be a new climate of goodwill between ordinary Arabs, and the ordinary people of Israel, which will lead to permanent friendship and understanding between the Arab world's new democratic governments, and that of Israel.

The irony, is that Israelis and Palestinians are amongst the cleverest people on the surface of the planet Earth. They could bring prosperity to all of the Middle East, if they ended the ancient grudges that now separate them, and gave peace a chance to flower - in the wake of the democratic tsunami, now sweeping away tyranny, from the Arab world.

Such lasting peace between Israelis and Arabs, can only benefit Africa's economy, particularly its ICT sector, and its Agriculture's farming sector. Israel is a global power in the high-tech industry. It also devotes a significant proportion of its GDP to research and development: in fact in 2008, the percentage of GDP Israel spent on R&D, is reckoned to be the highest of any OECD country - and higher than the European Union target for 2010 of 3% of GDP.

Combining the cutting-edge Israeli high tech sector, with investment for projects in the continent, funded with Arab petro-dollars, could help speed up the growth of Africa's minuscule nascent high-tech sector. An obvious benefit would be collaboration between African research institutions and their Israeli equivalents.

Its solar energy industry is one of the most advanced in the world - and utilising petro-dollars to fund solar energy projects on the continent will benefit all the three peoples.

A particular area in which Africa's economy can benefit from peace between Israelis and Arabs, is utilising the scientific know-how, which has enabled the Israelis to make the desert bloom. Combined with the cash-mountain of Arab petro-dollars, looking for rewarding returns from investment opportunities worldwide, it could create a boom for African agriculture - for the benefit of Africans, Israelis and Arabs. And may that come to pass soon!

Thursday, 24 February 2011

Author's note: This article is a rejoinder to an article in the 23/2/2011 edition of the Daily Guide newspaper, written by the Hon Atta Akyea, on the anniversary of the death in detention of Dr. J. B. Danquah. Unfortunately, due to a glitch on my mobile device, the uncompleted draft, which hadn't been edited, was emailed a number of times to the paper - hence my decision to post it here. Please read on.

Once upon a time, when the Hon Atta Akyea and his New Patriotic Party (NPP) friends thought no outsider could possibly be privy to their conversation, as they plotted to manipulate the legal system and secure the presidency for their party's defeated candidate that way (in the immediate aftermath of the run-off of the December 2008 presidential election), he made a Freudian slip - which was recorded for posterity, luckily.

It encapsulates perfectly, the nauseating hypocrisy of the plutocrats in our midst, who masquerade as believers in democracy. Speaking in Twi, he said in exasperation - at the hassle they were having to go through - "Saa democracy nonsense yi."

It was much the same with Dr. J. B. Danquah, whose death in detention during the Nkrumah era, Atta Akyea and people of his ilk, seek to make maximum political capital out of. Incidentally, it ought to be pointed out, dear reader, that Danquah died from natural causes.

The irony, is that Danquah & Co themselves, actively sought to assassinate Nkrumah - in a serial bombing campaign of terror in which over three hundred innocent Ghanaians lost their lives.

And what for, you may ask? Well, just so, dear reader, a bunch of supremely arrogant and wealthy elitists, who thought they were born to lord it over others, and who had thrice been rejected in free and fair elections in 1951, 1954 and 1956, could come to power through the back door. Today, that would be picked up on the International Criminal Court's (ICC) radar - and lead to their being indicted for crimes against humanity.

Perhaps the question we ought to ask Atta Akyea and Co is: Was each one of those 300 lives not of equal value to Danquah's own life? Who does not know that Danquah, despite the repressive means employed to ensure his election by the Akyem Abuakwa State Council, was trounced in the Abuakwa Central constituency, in the elections of 1954 and 1956?

Atta Akyea & Co must find out why, exactly, as a result of the damning evidence of abuse of power by the Akyem Abuakwa State Council, contained in the report of the Jackson Commission (November 1957), a meeting of a section of the State Council was called by Nana Kena 11 at Kukurantumi, on the 13th of June 1958, which resulted in Nana Ofori-Atta 11 being deposed - and replaced by Nana Kena 11, as Regent.

Did the abuses that the Jackson Commission catalogued, not have to do with the fact that Nana Ofori Atta 11 and some of his colleagues from the Akyem Abuakwa State Council, refused to countenance anyone voting for any political party, other than the violent and murderous National Liberation Movement (NLM)?

Did they not then go on to harness Akyem Abuakwa state resources to support the NLM's parliamentary candidate, Dr. J. B. Danquah? Would today's international election observers not have condemned such action - despite which he was still defeated by the Convention Peoples Party's (CPP) candidate, Kofi Asante Ofori Atta?

Indeed, in the crucial 1956 elections to decide Ghana's future status (as a unitary republic or lose federation of mostly tribal entities!), all the NLM parliamentary candidates in the five constituencies of Akim Abuakwa lost to CPP candidates.

Furthermore, as evidence of their not practising what they preached, in September 1955, did the so-called champions of freedom and democracy, not drag as many as 140 Chiefs to Kyebi, and make them swear the Okyeman great oath that in addition to supporting Danquah's candidacy, they would promote and support only NLM candidates in Akyem Abuakwa - and ensure that everyone else did so too?

Does that not look suspiciously like making a bid for a one-party state, dear reader? So why was Danquah, the great champion of freedom, not condemning it, one wonders? Can Atta Akyea & Co offer any explanations - since they are expert revisionists of our history?

It is typical of the hypocrisy of Danquah and the privileged set he served - and their political descendants, the Atta Akyeas of this world, who also appear to have mastered the art of speaking with forked tongues: and think they are cleverer than all Ghanaians.

Incidentally, nothing much has changed in that regard - in 21st century Ghana, Chiefs are still doing same: during the December 2008 elections in parts of the Ashanti and Eastern regions, voters in Zongo communities were threatened with eviction, and prevented from casting their votes, all for the benefit of Atta Akyea's party, the NPP, and like his political forebears, he too poses as a champion of liberty and a believer in the rule of law in the face of all that. Wonders.

What could be more unlawful than unelected individuals in privileged positions in society, disenfranchising law-abiding Ghanaian citizens? Thus far, I am yet to hear the loquacious Hon Atta Akyea raise his voice in condemnation of such egregious abuse of the fundamental human rights of the inhabitants of Zongos in the two said regions. But I digress.

Such was the extent to which Danquah & Co had alienated ordinary Akyems, who resented the contempt in which the elitist Danquah and his privileged set held them, that unluckily for those elitists, despite all the undemocratic strong arm tactics employed in his favour, by the Akyem Abuakwa State Council, Danquah never once won an election in which ordinary people were able to vote.

The question is: Why did the ordinary Akyems not show any enthusiasm for this heroic figure and champion of liberty?

Atta Akyea and those who seek to give the false impression that Danquah was also a champion of free enterprise, must explain why Kwahu traders who did not own their own properties, were booted out of Akyem Abuakwa - and Akyems who tried to shelter them were warned not to do so - or face dire consequences?

Were the Kwahu traders not private entrepreneurs - so why did the great champion of freedom and free enterprise not counsel against that elitist tribal-supremacist outrage? Why, was it the case perhaps that he was selective in whom he fought for freedom for - and in what causes he felt were deserving of his advocacy?

Can Atta Akyea & Co tell us exactly what the champion of free enterprise was doing, assisting arbitrary Chiefs to deny settlers the full rewards of the fruits of their private cocoa farming-sector micro-enterprises, by the imposition of unreasonable conditions (amounting to market distortion by the arbitrary actions of traditional authorities!)?

Were those actions not so unreasonable, especially as they were contrary to Akan custom, that the outraged Amanhene of New Juabeng; Akwapim; and Krobo (who incidentally spoke out in 1933!), all had to complain loudly about the unfair treatment of their people, whose only crime was that they were not Akyems? Danquah was no champion of freedom there, was he, dear reader?

Why does Atta Akyea think so many of the settler farmers were against Ofori Atta 1's land policy of 1919 and section 123 of the Native Administration Ordinance of 1927?

Like today's NPP, of which he is such a prominent member, Danquah & Co were champions of free enterprise, only as far as it created opportunity for the elite in society to enrich themselves - ordinary people were irritants who had to be kept firmly in their place with repressive and unreasonable laws.

It is because the political descendants of Danquah, have more or less held sway in our homeland Ghana, since the overthrow of Nkrumah, that we have evolved into an unjust and unequal society, in which scores of poor people, many of whom never had any proper legal representation (because they couldn't afford the outrageous sums charged by so many lawyers), are serving long prison sentences for crimes such as: stealing a chicken; a bunch of plantains; a goat; a mobile phone; etc., etc.

Meanwhile, wealthy rogues, some of them politicians, and all of them privileged individuals, rob Ghana with impunity, by evading taxes amounting to billions of Ghana cedis, and siphoning off state revenue in countless cases of insider-dealing: most of them stashing the loot in offshore entities and everyone of them far beyond the reach of the law: because they are well-connected individuals. Rule of law, indeed . Sounds more like rule of the fat-cats to me - and they don't come any bigger than Atta Akyea & Co.

The Atta Akyeas of this world must understand that no one can put a spin on the facts of history and think they get away with it - and that it is intellectually dishonest to seek to do so. Neither can the verdict of history be purchased by bribery and through corrupt practices - historians invariably are individuals of integrity: and unlike so many Ghanaian journalists, do not sell their conscience.

Dr. J. B. Danquah may have been a highly intelligent man with a fine turn of phrase, who was pretty good at writing lofty sentences full of idealism, but in practice, often did what was totally against the spirit of his lofty exhortations.

It is time they stopped attempting to revise our history in their cynical attempt to foist Danquah on Ghanaians as a national hero. He was not. He was on the wrong side of history - and was a mere stooge of the foreigners from the United Kingdom, who occupied our country at a point in time in our history.

The whole of Danquah's so-called struggle for our independence, was endless secret collaboration with colonialists, who whiles seeking to extricate themselves from what had become a burden on Britain's public purse, after a sapping war with Hitler's Germany (and her fascist allies), sought a clever way to put themselves in a position, which would enable them to depart from our shores, yet continue maintaining their stranglehold on our spectacular array of natural resources: by handing over power on a silver platter to their local lackeys, Danquah & Co.

Nkrumah's entry unto the scene, when he did, changed the course of our history. He succeded in creating social mobility through the provision of free education: thus enabling even poor rural people with the aptitude to study to the highest levels, to become productive citizens, and contribute to the modernisation of our homeland Ghana.

The neo-colonialists and imperialists set us back decades, when they finally succeeded in removing Nkrumah from power, exactly 45 years ago, today. We are still struggling to overcome that setback, which occurred on what pan-Africanists regard as the black race's darkest day. The Atta Akyeas of this world must not irritate us with their hypocrisy at such a time.

Tel (powered by Tigo - the only mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): 0277453109.

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

According to their many critics, to understand the scale of the failure of those responsible for telling the remarkable narrative, that is the sum total, of the many positive achievements of an embattled regime, left a terrible legacy, which amounted to a poisoned chalice, one must list the many red flags raised by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) during the campaign for the December 2008 presidential election: and show how today many of them have failed to come to pass.

Apparently, those many NPP red flags, were meant to create a picture in the minds of ordinary Ghanaians, about the disaster that would befall them and their homeland Ghana, if it was led by a President Mills.

Ordinary Ghanaians were told for instance, that a President Mills would be a puppet of Flt. Lt. Rawlings - who would rule Ghana yet again, from behind the scenes at the Osu Castle, the seat of government. Yet, as we all know, today's incredible reality, is that it is rather Mr. Rawlings who is smarting at being sidelined - and is loudly and openly criticising the independent-minded President Mills: whiles he moves Ghana forward methodically despite inheriting a ruined economy.

Then there was the cruel story of a man who would be dead within three months of becoming president - the implication being that he should therefore not be voted for. As we have all seen, the gentleman who was said to be at death's door, is able to stand for more than two hours, at a stretch, answering questions from a mostly-hostile media. He has also on occasion, even walked up the full flight of stairs to the sixth floor of the surgical block of our major teaching hospital, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, and descended same - without being carried back to the Osu Castle on a stretcher in an ambulance.

Indeed, ordinary folk were also told by many of those who did not want Professor Mills to become president, that if elected, during his tenure, the culture of silence would creep back into our national life, and that so would the abuse of human rights (including the assault on freedom of expression, resulting from the harassment of individual journalists and sections of the media), which occurred under all the previous regimes that have been led by Flt. Lt. Rawlings. Well, as we all know, the reality today, is that the praise-singing media folk and media houses, showered regularly with zillions of taxpayers' cash in the past, are as active in their perfidy today, as they were when their NPP paymasters were busy gang-raping Mother Ghana so brutally.

Those complacent government PR geniuses, are also accused of failing to make the point (because they lack the nous!), that ordinary Ghanaians ought to compare today's many positive realities under the Mills administration, with the many falsehoods of yesteryear's pre-election fear-mongering, engaged in by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), and those in the media whose conscience they bought: and ask themselves whether or not President Mills' vociferous critics are sincere and fair-minded individuals.

The government's PR team's critics also stress that those they refer to as the "many third-rate individuals in the Osu Castle and elsewhere", have failed woefully to make ordinary folk understand clearly that the NPP's Enkoyie propaganda of today, is the political equivalent of old wine in new bottles - and is a combination of rehashed and polished versions of those selfsame deliberate anti-Mills falsehoods, specifically designed to deceive voters last December: being deployed today for the same purpose in Decembee 2012.

The government's PR team, its critics further insist, are "over-pampered and "over-paid geniuses" who have failed completely, to make ordinary Ghanaians understand that the NPP's Enkoyie propaganda's purpose today,is to bring about the hoped-for outcome of yesteryear: to stop ordinary Ghanains from electing the most honest and selfless individual to lead Ghana, since Nkrumah's overthrow in February 1966, in the December 2012 presidential election. Who does not remember how from literally nowhere, by the end of their regime's much-tainted tenure Kufuor & Co. and the favoured members of their family clans, had emerged unto the list of that elite group of the wealthiest Africans on the continent - within eight short years? Which of those government PR geniuses is pointing out the cold and frightening fact that the NPP's presidential candidate has a much larger family clan, jam-packed with even more ruthless and infinitely smarter individuals than the greedy and selfish lot they aspire to emulate and succeed in 2012?

Those who call for the dismissal of the entire team of geniuses in charge of PR for the current regime, say that the most egregious of their failings, thus far, has been their inability to realise the importance of pointing it out to the detractors of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime, and ordinary Ghanaians that contrary to what was said by the NPP in 2008, far from ruling Ghana by proxy, today, Mrs. Rawlings more or less complains of being marginalised and sidelined by the Mills regime: and has consequently removed her well-fitting and expensive kid gloves: and is preparing to fight a no-holds-barred bare-knuckled fight for her political life.

It is also said to have escaped those selfsame government PR geniuses, that despite the NPP's pre-election scaremongering, the 31st December Women's Movement has not succeeded in leveraging the machinery of state, as happened under the different regimes led by Mr. Rawlings, and still remains the pale shadow of itself that it was under the NPP regime - and shod of its state life-support systems, is virtually moribund.

Then there is also their inability to capitalise on Mrs. Rawlings intention to challenge President Mills for the right to stand as the NDC's candidate for the December 2012 presidential election. The question that those who are calling for the dismissal of the entire government PR team, feel should be asked, is: Is Mrs. Rawings' intention to stand against President Mills, not empirical evidence that far from being an undemocratic party, and a political tool of Mrs. Rawlings and her husband, the NDC under President Mills, has evolved and matured into a normal and democratic political party - a broad church with competing interests? And that furthermore, the Mills administration welcomes her candidacy: as it will bring forth many good ideas from both campaign teams, during the forthcoming campaign to elect the NDC's presidential candidate - all of which will strengthen the government and make it possible for the NDC to defeat the NPP again in December 2012: and widen the margin of victory further in that crucial election.

Finally, those selfsame government PR geniuses are accused of failing to make ordinary Ghanaians understand what effect a huge budget deficit (such as that left behind by the borrow-and-spend-waa-waa-waa Kufuor regime!) has on any nation's economy: and the attendant erosion in living standards that re-balancing a nation's finances results in. Are the citizens of many wealthy nations tackling huge budget deficits, not seeing an erosion in their living standards, as inflation eats away at the incomes of those lucky to still have jobs? Is the plain truth not that if the NPP had retained power in December 2008, ordinary Ghanains would be in the same situation they are in today - if not actually worse off under that selfish and profligate lot, whose real goal is to lay their grasping hands on Ghana's oil and natural gas deposits: and divvy that up between themselves, their favourites amongst their family clans and their cronies, like Kufuor & Co started doing before they left office in January 2009?

For all the above, and many more failings (too numerous to list in a short article, dear reader!), those who call for the dismissal of Kokou Anyidoho and the entire information ministry ministerial team (and their sidekick, that master-of-the-dark-arts, Stan Dogbe!), say their lack of creative thinking has enabled the many hirelings of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the media, and the NPP's own many self-seekers-with-a-hidden--agenda, to run rings them around them, for the entire period of the little over two years, which President Mills has been in power, and that it is time they were assigned other duties. The question is, will the president heed the call to dismiss all of them? Those who wish him well, hope that he will have the courage to do so - and act quickly before it is too late. The NDC regime ought to find world-class talent to handle its PR. Period. A word to the wise...

Recently, when I learnt that a number of Chiefs from Ghana's Western Region, had accompanied one of the two deputy energy ministers, Hon. F. K. Buah, to Trinidad and Tobago, it immediately occurred to me that someone ought to encourage them to set up a holding company ("Western Holdings Limited"), which would exchange land for projects, with stakes in the companies undertaking those projects. I do hope prominent individuals from the region, such as Samiah Nkrumah, the Awhoi brothers, Kabral Blay-Amihere and F. K. Buah himself, will encourage the region's Chiefs to do so.

It is a far better way to proceed, than the old-fashioned way of Chiefs merely "releasing land" for projects, and later going cap in hand to beg for social amenities from those selfsame entities. More importantly, it avoids the controversy of tribal leaders from one particular region in Ghana, asking for special treatment in the sharing of the national cake. It also enables them to take advantage of the local content law - to which they can point to any investor desirous of partnering Ghanaians.

If some of the dividend payments from the shares owned by Western Holdings were put into an educational fund, for example, to which those with the aptitude to study to tertiary level could apply for full- scholarships, surely, all academically-gifted children from poor families in the Western Region could realise their full potential?

One certainly hopes that rather than ask for special treatment because of the region's abundant oil and natural gas deposits, the Western Regional House of Chief's will consider abolishing the unproductive tradition of Chiefs being presented with drinks by investors seeking stool land, and substitute it with a new and financially-rewarding tradition, in which all such investors give "Western Holdings" a 10 percent shareholding in their projects.

Would employing a world-class management team to run "Western Holdings Limited", not help provide the Chiefs and people of the region with the wherewithal, to pay for the education of the region's brightest children? And if they invest in quality vocational training for the region's children who are not so gifted academically too, as well as provide them seed money to set up micro- enterprises, after their training, surely that will make them productive citizens contributing to Ghana's GDP - and help alleviate poverty in many communities in the region too? Traditional leaders of a resource-rich region must discard the prevalent initiative-killing and insidious begging-bowl mentality, which impoverishes so many communities up and down our country. A word to the wise...

Saturday, 19 February 2011

Last year, a visiting Ghanaian delegation (led by the vice president, H.E. John Mahama) was told by executives of Marcopolo, the Brazilian bus builders, that if Ghana could place an order for a thousand buses, they would build an assembly plant here.

As this has been designated his administration's "action year", by President Mills, perhaps the question we ought to pose to the geniuses around him, who are supposed to advise the vice president, is: what exactly are they doing about that Marcopolo offer to assemble buses here?

Marcopolo builds pretty good buses. Some were brought into Ghana as far back as the early seventies by the late Mark Cofie - and in addition to one I often see when travelling between Koforidua and Bunso, I am also aware of at least one more from those days, which still ferries passengers along one of Accra's tro-tro routes.

For what it is worth, here is a little lateral thinking that might help them get Marcopolo into Ghana. They should encourage the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to set up a wholly-owned bus company, to participate in the new rapid urban mass transport system (RUMTS).

Together with the banks funding participating companies in the new RUMTS, that wholly-owned GPRTU company ("GPRTU-Rapide" wouldn't be a bad name for it!), could form a consortium to guarantee the purchase of 100 buses for each of the ten regions of Ghana, over a period of say five to ten years.

In exchange for that, they could negotiate a stake in the assembly plant, which Marcopolo builds in Ghana, on the strength of the consortium's guarantees. Sources with direct knowledge of the thinking of key figures amongst the GPRTU's national leadership, say the organisation would go along with such an idea, if the vice president's office suggested it, and helped to bring it into fruition. (Then there is the whole of the West African sub-regional market to play for, once the assembly plant is up and running!)

Well, I do know that I am old and senile, but not even I can be said to be oblivious, of the fact that if they can pull it off, it would be a marvellous legacy for their man and the Mills administration as a whole. As a rather cynical acquaintance said to me, an added bonus, would be the regular provision of free buses to take voters working in the urban areas, but registered to vote in their home towns, to travel home to vote in elections.

Surely, such a prospect isn't to be sneezed at - and is a tad more positive a move, than urging party supporters to prepare to fight to the death: just so that super-wealthy politicians, born with golden spoons in their mouths, can come to power and enable members of their family clans send their personal net worth into the stratosphere, at Mother Ghana's expense (Kufuor & Co. style)? Even a semi-literate fool like me in his dotage can see the sense in that. I hope they do, too! A word to the wise...

Friday, 18 February 2011

President Mills, knowing full well how the herculean task of dealing with the huge deficit left behind by the profligate and fiscally irresponsible regime of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), has retarded his administration's progress in bringing about the better Ghana he promised Ghanaians, designated this year, 2011, as the government of his National Democratic Congress' (NDC) "year of action".

I am publishing a series of letters that speak for themselves. They were all delivered to the designated ministers they are addressed to, between 2009 and 2011. Incredibly, not once did I receive a reply to any of those letters. But I do not blame any of the ministers concerned. Perhaps the replies to the letters may very well be in the post - as I was informed by a civil servant in room 29, at the local government and rural development ministry, when I went to follow up after my most recent missive to that ministry's political head, about two weeks or so ago. She very kindly showed me a filed copy of the said reply, as a matter of fact. I trust it will eventually be delivered by Ghana Post. But that is only one out of so many letters to officialdom I have written over the years - but none of which have been replied to. Extraordinary. No wonder we never seem to achieve our potential as a people.

There are two main reasons why I have chosen to publish a few of the many letters to various state entities over the years: to begin with, I hope that some of the more responsible sections of the media will take up the idea of letting ordinary people know about the development going on nationwide, in the various districts. It is the right of every Ghanaian to be kept abreast with the state of the nation at the grass-roots level, countrywide. I also believe that it helps preserve national cohesion. My second purpose, is to alert those at the presidency, whose job it is to ensure that government machinery works properly - so as to enable the government of the day achieve its set developmental agenda, in what is supposed to be this regime's "action year". They would be wise to be wary of the public servants they are relying on to help make a success of the president's "action year". I doubt if many of them wish this regime well, quite frankly - judging from my own interaction with some of them. Inaction on their part, seems largely to be a deliberate tactic, to help make the NPP's Enkoyie propaganda more successful! Please read on, dear reader:

30th September, 2009

The Deputy MinisterMinistry of Environment, Science, and TechnologyAccra .Dear Minister,

We wish to change the land-use focus of our freehold high forest property at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, where we are farming cocoa organically - and preserve our private off-reserve land: by turning it into a nature resource reserve and eco-tourism destination.

Consequently, we are writing formally to seek your assistance, to enable cocoa farmers on our land (and others from the village, who have been affected by Sola Mining Limited’s surface gold mining operations, being carried out without a valid EPA mining permit), leverage the alternative income-generation training courses under the ministry of local government’s High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project (HFBCP).

The window for the training courses closes this coming December, and if the minister for local government and rural development agrees to treat our application as an emergency case, all the cocoa farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who seek more sustainable alternative sources of income, than the rampant illegal logging and ruinous surface gold mining that goes on there, will be able to learn bee keeping, grasscutter-rearing, and snail-farming, under the HFBCP. We have attached a copy of our HFBCP application letter for your perusal.

We are sure that your interceding on our behalf with the minister for local government and rural development, will enable him to intervene immediately in the matter, and lead to him asking that our case be treated as an emergency one, which ought to be handled with dispatch - in view of the status of that section of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest: which has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Hotspot.

We do hope that you will come to the aid once more, of those in Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who care deeply about the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest (both the reserve and off-reserve rain forest) - and want it preserved for future generations of Ghanaians. Thank you for your kindness to us on a previous occasion, once more, minister. We do hope that this intervention will also lead to a positive outcome.

Yours faithfully,

Kofi Thompson Director

30th September. 2009

The MinisterMinistry of Local Government and Rural DevelopmentAccra Dear Minister,

We wish to change the land-use focus of our freehold high forest property at Akim Abuakwa Juaso, where we are farming cocoa organically - and preserve our private off-reserve land: by turning it into a nature resource reserve and eco-tourism destination.

Consequently, we are writing formally to seek your assistance, to enable cocoa farmers on our land (and others from the village, who have been affected by Sola Mining Limited’s surface gold mining operations, being carried out without a valid EPA mining permit), leverage the alternative income-generation training courses under the ministry of local government’s High Forest Biodiversity Conservation Project (HFBCP).

The window for the training courses apparently closes this coming December, and if you intervene on our behalf, in view of the status of that section of the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest: which has been designated a Globally Significant Biodiversity Hotspot, and ask that our application be treated as an emergency case, all the cocoa farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who seek more sustainable alternative sources of income, than the rampant illegal logging and ruinous surface gold mining that goes on there, will be able to learn beekeeping, grasscutter-rearing, and snail-farming, under the HFBCP. We have attached a copy of our HFBCP application letter for your perusal.

We do hope that this missive to you, will lead to a positive outcome for the environmentally and socially responsible farmers of Akim Abuakwa Juaso, who are keen to benefit from the training courses under the HFBCP - and that all those in Akim Abuakwa Juaso who care deeply about the Atiwa Range upland evergreen rain forest (both the reserve and off-reserve rain forest land), and want it preserved for future generations of Ghanaians, will be thus rewarded for being law-abiding and productive citizens of Ghana. Thank you in advance for your kindness, minister.

Yours faithfully,

Kofi ThompsonDirector

21st January 2011

The Hon. MinisterMinistry of InformationAccra

Dear Minister,

RE: FEATURING WORK OF DISTRICT ASSEMBLIES IN THE NATIONAL REVIEW NEWSPAPER

We applied to the National Media Commission (NMC), for The National Review to be registered as a newspaper, on 15/11/2010. The paper's mission, is to foster the cohesion of our nation; protect the national interest; promote democracy and ensure the rights of all Ghanaians, at all material times - through ethical journalism.

A key aspect of the paper, is that it will feature the work of District Assemblies in its pages, on a regular basis. This is because it is our belief that it is the right of all Ghanaians, to be kept abreast of the state of the nation, in terms of the physical development of their country, such as the provision of infrastructure at the grass-roots level, nationwide.

This is crucial if national cohesion is to be maintained, Minister. We feel that the more responsible sections of the media ought to take this up. We want to set the example, and seek your assistance in that direction. Consequently, we would be most grateful if you could link us up with all the District Assemblies, and facilitate their providing us with content for publication, on a weekly basis - for both the print and online editions of The National Review.

We hope to be out before the end of the first half of this year, all things being equal. We thank you in advance for your help, Minister - and per this letter, solicit your help in securing an interview with the new local government and rural development minister, Hon. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofu, at some point, going forward: so that he can share his vision for his new brief, with our readers, in the paper's regular interview features page.

Naturally, we understand that he can only grant an interview, when he is properly settled in his new portfolio. From time to time, we shall also approach you, to facilitate same with your other colleague ministers, to that end. Happy New Year, Minister. We do wish you and your deputies, every success in the year designated by the president, H.E. President Mills, as his administration's year of action.

Yours faithfully,

Kofi Thompson (Managing Editor)

So there we are, dear reader, a few examples of the glacial pace at which government business is conducted in our homeland Ghana. The most perplexing of all, is the tardiness of the information ministry. You would think that a vital public relations organ of a regime with such a bad press (most of it unfair!), would be more proactive. Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo! But I digress.

At this rate, one wonders, for example, when Parliament will pass legislation, which will ensure that no spillage by any oil company operating off our shores, or inland, is left unpunished - and that all spillages are dealt with in exactly the same fashion that the Obama administration dealt with BP, after the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spillage.

We must never allow the apocalyptic scenes of the most egregious kind of environmental pollution, which we see in the Niger Delta, to occur here too. Why must we allow shareholders of oil companies in America and elsewhere to grow super-rich, whiles the oil companies they own, create a hell on earth for our coastal communities and other inland areas in the landmass of Ghana, where oil in commercial quantities may be discovered in future? The question is: Will our largely-complacent ruling elites act to put legislation in place to prevent that from being repeated here too by arrogant oil companies like Kosmos Oil? President Mills and his team, have their work cut out to ensure that his year of action is not derailed. The question is: Will he be tough with those public servants who do not want it to be a success? Those who wish him well, hope he will. A word to the wise...

Thursday, 17 February 2011

There is no doubt whatsoever, that many Ghanaian nationalists were riled by the role played by the New Labour regime of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in the takeover of Ghana Telecom (GT), by Vodafone. And no patriotic Ghanaian, who reads all the documents made available by Vodafone, to the Ministerial Review Committee set up in May 2009, by the Mills regime, to look into that controversial deal (as I have just finished doing!), will fail to be angry about that shabby and disgraceful deal.

For such Ghanaians, the litmus test of David Cameron's sincerity about creating a "moral Big Society" in the UK, is how he will react to demands from Ghana that Vodafone be investigated and prosecuted by the UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO).

They point to the unlawful manner the divestiture of GT was carried out by the Kufour regime - in direct contravention of the Divestiture of State Interests Act (DSIA).

The Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC), according to section two of the DSIA, is "the agency of the government for the implementation, of government policies in respect of divestiture programmes."

Yet, the DIC was sidelined by the Kufuor regime, in that deal - with some of the most crucial negotiations actually being carried out, personally, by President Kufuor (who on one occasion, was even apparently accompanied by, of all people, the British High Commissioner to Ghana: to negotiate for Nkrumah's Ghana!). How stupid the British government officials and the executives from Vodafone must have thought Ghanaians were - as Kufuor & Co. bent over backwards to please them!

On the local political front, such was the duplicity of the Kufuor regime, that although its leading members never ceased repeating their belief in the rule of law, they somehow managed to ignore the DSIA completely, in their haste to please Prime Minister Gordon Brown - whose determination to help Vodafone secure GT (even through strong-arm tactics - if deemed necessary) guaranteed precisely that outcome for the UK telecom giant.

It was for that reason that British officials in London and Accra, worked closely with President Kufuor, to secure the deal for Vodafone - although the deal was not in the long-term strategic interest of the Ghanaian nation-state. Today, at a time of austerity in both Ghana and the UK, and in an era when even Arabian oil sheiks know that excess is foolish, Vodafone Ghana, has spent vast sums acquiring a plush new headquarters building - to add insult to injury. Yet, Vodafone Ghana's over-paid and over-pampered British executives would never dare do so in the UK - especially at a time when its shareholders see the British economy in dire straights: as the Coalition government struggles to re-balance Britain's public finances.

If David Cameron is sincere in his crusade to create a moral Big Society in Britain, he must ensure that British companies are always guided by corporate good governance principles when they invest or operate in Africa. If their actions encourage corruption, and if they engage in any illegalities in Africa, they must be made to face the music back home in the UK.

To encourage the principle of corporate good governance amongst British companies operating in Africa, David Cameron must ensure that rather than being shelved, the UK Anti-Bribery Act comes into force as scheduled, in April 2011. Hopefully, he will then get the SFO to investigate Vodafone's takeover of GT - and have them prosecuted for any complicity in that crime against the Ghanaian people and their nation. That will be proof positive that he is sincere about creating a "moral Big Society" - and leaving that as a lasting legacy. The question is, will he do so: and is he sincere when he talks about the "moral Big Society"?

Yes, let's keep our fingers crossed. I am still working on the funding. Massa, my goal, when deciding to publish "The National Review," was to hold our ruling elites, particularly members of our political class (and the senior public servants who advise them!), accountable to the people of Ghana - by constantly questioning them.

Take the spillage of toxic material into the Atlantic Ocean by Kosmos Oil, for instance. What exactly is officialdom doing to ensure that when the next spillage occurs, there will be unambiguous legislation in place, that will enable our nation exact a level of financial compensation, on the scale of that which the Obama administration forced BP to pay into an escrow account, in the early stages of the Gulf of Mexico oil spillage disaster ?

Part of today's economic difficulties, stem from the pile of debt left behind, as a result of the reckless borrowing that the Kufuor administration engaged in during its tenure. Which media house has pointed out to the present government, for example, the danger of obtaining loans from the financial markets of the West - particularly when a case can be made to the Chinese to treat the funding of infrastructure projects in Ghana, as being in China's long-term strategic interest in Africa?

If China were to do so, when they are criticised for exploiting Africa and not putting anything positive back in return (for the raw materials it is hovering up out of the continent), could they not point to their funding, in Ghana and elsewhere, of various infrastructure projects?

Rather than resorting to commercial loans, should we not leverage the bond of friendship existing between Ghana and China, dating back to the Nkrumah regime's period in office, to get concessionary Chinese state funding to construct: roads; well-designed and well-built affordable public housing nationwide; railways (to all the regional capitals!); airports (again in all regional capitals!); cocoa processing plants (in sufficient numbers to create tens of thousands of jobs, and also make it possible to flood the entire continent with dark Ghanaian chocolate and other cocoa products!); oil refineries (in numbers sufficient to make Ghana Africa's refining capital!); fund the merger of the GNPC, GOIL and some of the refineries that will be built, to create an oil giant, to refine and market petroleum products in petrol filling stations across Africa: using GOIL as the vehicle; etc. etc.?

The tragedy of our nation, is that we are lumbered with ruling elites full of the intellectual equivalent of pygmies - who lack vision on account of their inability to see far ahead into the future. Are you surprised that instead of engaging in a battle of ideas, our two major parties talk endlessly about which of them is more violent in nature - and is scheming to steal the December 2012 elections: through the use of violence?

Which of them have you heard outlining a detailed plan for the transformation of our society (outside of election campaign periods), and debating aspects of it with a political opponent, for the benefit of the public, I ask? In the 21st century, how can any civilised African fight for political power, and think of using violent means for achieving that purpose? Why do such politicians not rather urge their supporters to out-think their opponents - and come up with foolproof methods of preventing poll rigging: such as using the video and camera " applications" of mobile phones to record the voting process in polling stations nationwide?

Massa, don't be surprised if you woke up one morning, to hear that young people in Ghana were leading "people power" demonstrations nationwide, calling for the abolishing of the 4th Republic and its corrupt system - and its replacement by a 5th Republic with a new constitution that underpins a new system that is equitable and all-embracing.

They are fed up with a situation akin to a world of gangsters, in which a set of rules (the 1992 constitution), drawn up by one set of gangsters, and designed to protect the most powerful of their group, is then exploited to the hilt by their opponents, who succeeded them in office from January 2001 to January 2009, to enable them protect themselves from having to pay for their crimes against Mother Ghana, after relinquishing power. The young people of today simply want crooked politicians (across the spectrum!) who steal hapless taxpayers' money whiles in office, to be prosecuted and jailed for their crimes. Period.

How many politicians do you hear demanding that all politicians, regardless of their party affiliation, who steal from the national treasury ought to be tried quickly, jailed for their crimes - and stripped of their ill-gotten wealth? It is as if our ruling elites think ordinary people are dim-wits - who will put up with being ripped off, till the very end of time: because they have the mentality of serfs written into their DNA. Well, actually, Ghana's ordinary folk aren't daft - if truth be told. And one day they will seek their revenge, as sure as day follows night - and there will be no stopping them either. Massa, the day of judgement for our ruling elites is nearer than they think! Hmmm, Ghana - eyeasem oo: asem ebeba debi ankasa!

Yours in the service of Ghana,

Kofi.

PS Nana Akufo-Addo is simply doing what politicians the world over do - he is playing the Machiavellian game, known as "the-end-justifies-the-means". It is an old game. If the 1992 constitution stipulated that candidates vying for the presidency had to win a majority of the ten regions to become president, I doubt if tribal-supremacists (Akan or otherwise!) would remain relevant in Ghanaian politics.

In any case, ordinary Ghanaians of Akan descent are not fools. They have finely-honed survival instincts - and are not about to die for anyone born with a golden spoon in his or her mouth. Mark my words - the December 2012 elections will pass off peacefully: regardless of the machinations of the ruthless men and women who would rule us: be they Akan tribal-supremacists or otherwise!

Monday, 7 February 2011

I was flabbergasted to hear a politician (whose name I could not quite catch) on today’s Peace FM Kokrokoo morning show, say more or less that virtually all Ghanaians, with the exception of a few, including President Mills, are corrupt, because they are underpaid.

Why did that imbecile (and I am weighing my words very carefully here, dear reader) not speak for himself only, I ask? If that is the mindset of a leading member of our political class – apparently a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – is there any wonder that our ruling elites seem unable to deal with the corrupt system we are currently lumbered with?

That politician’s cynicism was so outrageous, that I could barely contain my anger, whiles listening to his inanities. Why an amoral and irresponsible individual like that should be allowed to come on air, by a respectable radio station, to spew such nation-wrecking rubbish to the hearing of listeners of Peace FM, without being censured by the host, Kwame Sefa-Kai, I find hard to fathom.

That moron actually had the gall to ask that the Customs Excise and Preventative Service (CEPS) officers at the Tema Harbour, who were caught engaging in corrupt practices on a video tape-recording (by ace investigative journalist, Anas Ameriyaw Anas), should be “rehabilitated” – instead of being prosecuted and jailed for their crimes against the Ghanaian nation-state. Imagine that. What errant nonsense.

Then there is the incredibly foolish and irresponsible statement, reported to have been made by the brilliant Dr. Tony Aidoo (irascible Tony really ought to know better, if he actually did say so), that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime, of which he is such a prominent member, should abandon all uncompleted “NPP projects” - and presumably concentrate on their own "NDC projects". Amazing.

Perhaps the time has come for independent-minded Ghanaians to remind members of Ghana’s political class that all projects initiated by ruling parties, are national undertakings funded from taxpayers’ money – not party-owned projects paid for from the personal contributions of politicians or from the party coffers of regimes in power, at any given point in time in our nation’s history.

If the shortsighted politicians and soldiers (stooges for neo-colonialism to a man) who came to power after the overthrow of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) regime of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and founding father, in February 1966, had had the good sense to continue the many projects his regime initiated, our homeland Ghana would have been a much better place today than it currently is, would it not, I ask?

Ghana’s politicians must stop acting as if they do not want the betterment of the Ghanaian nation-state and its citizens, when they are not themselves in power.

If that were not the case, why would intelligent politicians from the NPP, for example, be busy pretending that a nation with the huge budget deficit that they left behind when they were turfed out of power in December 2008 (thank goodness), could possibly be a prosperous country whose citizens enjoyed a high standard of living if they were the party in power today?

What little primary school child, who is clued-on and internet-savvy, is not aware that living standards are actually falling for millions of British citizens today, for example: as their Coalition government struggles to re-balance their country’s finances?

Who in Ghana does not remember that recently, the Ghanaian think-tank Imani’s Frank Cudjoe, in a radio interview on Accra's Radio Gold, admitted that the NPP regime left a budget deficit much bigger than Greece’s? It is such a pity that Kokou Anyidoho did not have the presence of mind to ask him to tell Ghanaians exactly how Greece is dealing with its budget deficit, as we speak.

Perhaps the failure of the NDC's many Kokou Anyidohos to ask such questions (and to point out the fact that today's hard times are a necessary phase for Ghana to go through, to enable a solid foundation to be laid, to guarantee a more prosperous future for all Ghanaians), is the reason why we are witnessing the nauseating spectacle of well-educated and highly-intelligent politicians from the selfsame NPP hopping from radio station to radio station and from television station to television station, criticizing their regime’s more fiscally-responsible successor-regime, which, in dealing with that deficit (resulting from the NPP’s own irresponsible borrowing and reckless spending whiles in power), has not slashed the salaries of public sector workers (none of whom, incidentally, have lost their jobs either: as public sector workers elsewhere in the developed world have); and has been able to ensure some modest growth in our country’s GDP despite cuts in public spending.

To those self-seeking hypocrites who are trying to fool ordinary folk into returning them to power again, with their self-serving Enkoyie propaganda, perhaps one ought to pose a few simple questions.

Is Ghana the only nation on the planet Earth today in which times are tough for ordinary citizens?

What well-informed Ghanaian does not know that in addition to the swingeing cuts in public spending (in nations like Greece, Ireland, Latvia, and the UK, to mention a few countries that are contending with large budget deficits, and which like Ghana are also struggling to re-balance their public finances), it is a well-known fact that living standards are actually plummeting in many developed world economies too?

And do they not see the modesty of President Mills - and the sharp contrast between him and the profligate President Kufuor: in terms of what they cost hapless Ghanaian taxpayers' in perks and sundry allowances? Good leaders understand the need for modesty at times of economic difficulty for their people.

Is that not why one of the first actions of the new Coalition government of the UK, was to immediately cut the salaries of all its members – from the prime minister down to the very last under-secretary of state?

Is Britain not facing inflationary pressures, as we speak? Did the last quarter’s figures not show that the British economy contracted slightly? Is there not fear in some quarters in the UK that Britain might slip into a double-dip recession if the government does not put a growth strategy in place soon?

Every sincere individual in Ghana, who understands economics, knows that if the NPP had retained power in December 2008, ordinary Ghanaians would still be in exactly the same situation they find themselves today – if they were not actually worse off under that greedy and profligate lot, that is.

Ghana’s politicians must be more responsible in public and weigh what they say openly very carefully – if they want to be taken seriously by discerning and independent-minded Ghanaians.

Not all Ghanaians are fools - and Ghanaian politicians must stop thinking they can fool ordinary folk: for they certainly can't. A word to the wise…